AROUND THE WORLD.

`Crystal' emblem OKd for Red Cross

December 08, 2005|By Items compiled from Tribune news services.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — A new Red Cross emblem was accepted at an international conference Thursday over Syrian objections, paving the way for Israel to join the humanitarian movement after nearly six decades of exclusion.

The 192 signatories of the Geneva Conventions approved the new "red crystal" emblem by vote after last-ditch negotiations between Israel and Syria over Damascus' demands for humanitarian access to Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights broke down.

The new emblem -- a red square standing on one corner, with a blank white interior and a thick red border--was aimed at resolving the dispute with Israel but also could be used by any national society that feared the red cross used by most countries and the red crescent preferred by Muslim nations would not be respected by combatants.